


I couldn't heal myself with time alone

by littlewitch34



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Coda, Episode Tag, Episode: s03e06 Motel California, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-09
Updated: 2013-07-09
Packaged: 2017-12-18 07:12:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/877064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlewitch34/pseuds/littlewitch34
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ethan has to face Danny sometime, and explain himself and why he ran. Takes place between night and morning during "Motel California."</p>
            </blockquote>





	I couldn't heal myself with time alone

When Ethan gets his shirt buttoned up, and takes a few breaths to calm himself, center himself, he goes back to the room he is sharing with Danny. He's already run through a litany of excuses, all of which fall flat and pathetic in his head. 'I'm sick.' 'I just needed a minute.' 'It's not you; it's me.' The last one is the truth, to a painful degree. Ethan doesn't remember what happened, exactly, but he does know he fled the hotel room, and the last thing he remembers is being with Danny, and kissing Danny.

 

It's like a scene out of an after-school special. He needs to go back in and _explain_ himself to Danny, that he didn't bail in a 'gay panic' or fear or anything else but whatever happened that Ethan _can't explain_. It's fuzzy and blank from kissing Danny to the feel of the burn on his hand in that motel room, but the Hale pack humans filled him in enough on the saw, his claws, all of it, and while the blank spaces terrify Ethan, having to face Danny now is more frightening. Danny is good and human and everything Ethan has ever wanted in a mate. Danny is strong, and kind, and beautiful. Ethan feels the pull toward Danny almost as equally as he feels a pull of loyalty to his twin. It's a conflict Ethan struggles to reconcile within himself.

 

Danny looks up when he hears a knock on the door, and crosses the room. He opens the door, shirtless and in blue-green plaid pajama bottoms. “Ethan,” he murmurs. Danny's forehead creases in what Ethan takes as confusion.

 

“Hey. I'm sorry... I just...” Ethan's at a loss for words, and suddenly it clicks in him that Danny's expression isn't confusion. It's concern.

 

“Come in.” Danny takes a step back, and once Ethan's inside, closes the door behind him and locks it. Danny sits on the bed, leaning back against the pillows, his legs crossed at his ankles.

 

Ethan doesn't move until Danny pats the bed beside him, and when Danny invites him over, Ethan eases down onto the bed.

 

“Look, Danny--” Ethan whispers, his mouth dry.

 

“Answer me something,” Danny cuts him off, studying Ethan closely.

 

Ethan sighs. “What?”

 

“Are you okay? Yes or no.”

 

The words strike something in Ethan, and he can't find the words to answer for a moment. He can only suck in a sharp little gasp of breath, startled by the bluntness of Danny's question.

 

“No,” Ethan whispers.

 

“Okay,” Danny murmurs, and without another word, he reaches over and wraps his arms around Ethan, pulling him close, until Ethan's head is on Danny's chest, and all Ethan can hear is the steady sound of Danny's heartbeat.

 

It only takes a few seconds of listening to Danny's heart before Ethan's shoulders begin to shake, and he lets out a quiet sob. Danny can feel tears on his skin, and he hugs Ethan just a little tighter. “Let go,” Danny soothes. “Let it out. I'll sit like this until morning if that's what it takes.”

 

It's ten minutes of quiet, trembling crying before Ethan can pull himself together. He wants to look up at Danny, but instead he moves himself a little closer, draping himself over Danny's upper body like a blanket.

 

“We don't have to talk,” Danny whispers. “I'm not mad. I'm... worried. That's all. It's alright that you're _not_ fine. You don't have to be. You don't have to be anything that you aren't.”

 

Ethan's heart aches; he can feel and hear how genuine Danny's words are through his heartbeat, and Ethan almost wishes Danny was lying, just to make it easier on himself. If Danny hated him for running, Ethan could handle it, taking the pain and hurt and swallowing it down, breaking from Danny, going back to the alpha pack with a renewed fight in him. That's not the case, though; Danny is truthful and so sweet, and it rattles Ethan; he's never had that before. If only Danny could want the bite. Ethan would give it to him in a second to keep Danny by his side.

 

Ethan lifts his head and looks up at Danny, an odd expression on his face. “We... we need to talk.”

**Author's Note:**

> I caught Danny's hand on Ethan's shoulder when they boarded the bus in the morning. Something happened between them after Ethan came back to himself and left Stiles, Lydia, and Allison.
> 
> Title comes from the song "Skin" by Poets of the Fall.


End file.
